LEAKAT Vs. DILDAR ALI KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In the suit out of which this appeal has arisen the plaintiff as a co-sharer landlord of a non-transferable occupancy holding asked for possession of the holding jointly with persons to whom it had been sold and jointly also with the other co-sharer landlords. The holding was bought by the defendants of the first party in 1916 when the defendants of the third party were the landlords. In 1918 the plaintiff acquired all except a very small fraction of the interest of those landlords at a sale in execution of a certificate for arrears of cess.

(2.) The share he bought was 9 gandas 3 cowris, the original landlords being left with only 2 karants 18 ren. The plaintiff's name was duly registered under the Land Registration Act, in respect of the share he had bought but he did not obtain delivery of possession from the Court nor apparently did he take possession of it himself. The defence of the defendants of the first party was that as the plaintiff had not obtained possession of the share which he had acquired at the Court sale he was not entitled to sue for possession of the holding.

(3.) They also pleaded recognition by the former landlords of the transfer of the holding to themselves, the plea of recognition being based upon a receipt given to them by one of the landlords of whom there were three, early in 1919, a few months after the Court sale. The suit was decreed by the trial Court and the appeal of the defendants who were the transferees of the holding was dismissed by the Subordinate Judge of Bhagalpur. They are the appellants in this second appeal and the grounds of appeal which they have taken are those on which the suit was contested. There is no substance in the plea that the respondent had no right to institute the suit. It was brought within twelve years after the date of the sale of the landlord's interest to the respondent, and the fact that, although duly registered under the Land Registration Act, he had not obtained possession of the entire interest is no bar to his being given possession of a share of a holding appertaining to that interest.